The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to disallow authentication with an empty password.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-258870 | PHTN-40-000207 | SV-258870r991591_rule | High |
| Description |
| Blank passwords are one of the first things an attacker checks for when probing a system. Even if the user somehow has a blank password on the OS, SSH must not allow that user to log in. |
| STIG | Date |
| VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2024-07-11 |
Details
| Check Text (C-62610r933669_chk) |
| At the command line, run the following command to verify the running configuration of sshd: # sshd -T|&grep -i PermitEmptyPasswords Example result: permitemptypasswords no If "PermitEmptyPasswords" is not set to "no", this is a finding. |
| Fix Text (F-62519r933670_fix) |
| Navigate to and open: /etc/ssh/sshd_config Ensure the "PermitEmptyPasswords" line is uncommented and set to the following: PermitEmptyPasswords no At the command line, run the following command: # systemctl restart sshd.service |